Muskegon County unemployment worsens to 9 percent, following Michigan trend

LANSING, MI – Muskegon County's and the city of Muskegon's unemployment rates took a turn for the worse in January, mirroring a trend in Michigan's unemployment rate.

In this 2010 file photo, a job applicant receives advice on his resume while attending a job fair in Southfield.Associated Press

The county's jobless rate bounced up to 9 percent and the city's rate increased to 11.7 percent, according to figures released Thursday, March 21, by the Bureau of Labor Market Information & Strategic Initiatives.

The rates are still below where they stood a year ago.

The number of jobs in Muskegon County also took a hit, dropping by 1,300 from December to January. The bureau's numbers for local units are not adjusted for seasonal work. Analysts were not immediately available to comment on why the number of jobs had dropped.

Though they're more than a month old, the January jobs numbers were released Thursday as part of officials' annual process of revising numbers for the past year.

Muskegon County's unemployment rate hit 9 percent in January -- down nearly a percentage point from 9.8 percent recorded a year ago, but significantly higher than the 8.3 percent jobless rate a month ago in December. The December figure was initially reported as 8.6 percent.

The city of Muskegon's unemployment rate in January 2013 was 11.7 percent, nearly a percentage point higher than the 10.8 percent jobless rate a month ago, but a point lower than the 12.7 percent rate from 12 months ago.

Local jobless rates come from surveys of households conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. The jobs numbers are based on a separate bureau survey of the area's employers.

The industry with the biggest drop in jobs in Muskegon County was companies in the category for trade, transportation and utilities, which lost 600 jobs. The second-biggest loss of jobs came from at companies in the leisure and hospitality category, which lost 200 jobs.